Israel invades Lebanon while launching attacks against the country
At least 37 people, including children, have been killed after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon.
This month, Israel deployed ground troops for an invasion of southern Lebanon and has launched hundreds of airstrikes across the country.
The invasion followed weeks of escalations between Israel and Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political party and armed group based in Lebanon that has supported Hamas against Israel in the war in Gaza.
Pager explosions
On September 17 and 18, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon exploded, killing at least 37 people, including children, and injuring nearly 3,000.
According to Lebanese officials, the explosive technology was virtually undetectable. While Israel has not directly commented on the explosions, CNN reports that the attacks stemmed from an operation by Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, and the Israeli military.
United Nations (UN) human rights experts have characterized the explosions as a violation of international law, citing the prohibition of booby traps, their indiscriminate nature, and the ability of the devices to spread widespread terror.
Mounting airstrikes
Following the pager explosions, Israel intensified its airstrikes on Lebanon, intending to target Hezbollah members. On September 28, one of these airstrikes struck a fortified compound, carrying out a decapitation strike which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and instigated a promise of revenge from Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
Other airstrikes have hit residential areas in Beirut cited by Israel to contain Hezbollah fighters, with the bombardments killing 105 people in the capital on September 30.
Israeli strikes have hit hospitals and medical personnel in Lebanon, killing at least 50 paramedics over the last two weeks alone. More recently, an Israeli strike on October 3 killed nine people in a central Beirut hospital.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the strikes have caused the displacement of one million Lebanese.
Amnesty International has called for Israel to limit its strikes to military objectives only and take “all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians,” noting the death toll of at least 558 people on September 23. The organization also documented the carrying out of indiscriminate attacks on civilians by Hezbollah.
Israel has repelled these assertions, claiming that the Israel Defense Forces has to attack civilian targets due to Hezbollah embedding itself in these areas. The US has mediated talks for a ceasefire in an attempt to defuse these tensions, but on September 26, Israel firmly rejected ceasefire calls.
Invasion and retaliation
Israel has previously claimed that the increase in airstrike frequency served as a precursor to a future ground invasion by pre-emptively weakening Hezbollah’s positions.
On October 1, Israel confirmed these plans by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon, claiming that the invasion pre-emptively struck Hezbollah bases that were preparing their own offensive into Israeli territory.
In response to both the Israeli ground invasion of Israel and Nasrallah’s death, Iran has launched at least 180 missiles into Israel. As a result, Israel has vowed retaliation for the Iranian attack, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating that Israel is determined to retaliate against its enemies.
On September 27, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly in New York and defended Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon, stating that Israel “is at war fighting for its life” and will attack Hezbollah until “all objectives are met.”
Israel also banned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country on October 2 due to his perceived “failure to ‘unequivocally condemn’ Iran’s massive military attack on Israel,” according to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Guterres had previously stated on October 1 that he condemned “the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation” without naming any specific countries.
